dragoness_e | Winchester Mystery House, part 1: Front and front garden

Last weekend, I toured the Winchester Mystery House and snapped about a jillion pictures. See the preceding link for an explanation of the place, which is a huge, sprawling Victorian mansion with 160 rooms. Some of those rooms are very tiny, true, but most of them aren't, and the place is a labyrinth.

Winchester Mansion

I'll be splitting this up into multiple posts, and still not really have a place for all the snapshots.

There's an extensive formal garden in front of the house; very park-like, classically Victorian with fountains and statues and manicured hedges.

One of seven fountains - Stork & baby

Chief Little Bow

This statue is in memoriam to the native Americans killed by Winchester rifles. It's posed so that he's facing another statue, that of a deer, off in the distance, as if he's hunting the stag.

The Egret Fountain

Cherub & Seahorse Fountain

Serpent fountain

The house itself is also classical Victorian architecture, with all the gingerbread and ornate decor of the period.

Winchester House, front

Winchester House, front, left end

There are two statues that greet any visitors to the front door--not that anyone is worthy enough to use the front door. There's a story that even Teddy Roosevelt, President of the United States, got sent around to the tradesman's entrance.

Front door gods - Demeter and Hermes, I think

The entrance for tourists goes through the gift shop, of course, which is built into some of the outbuildings. Of course mere peons like us would not be allowed through Mrs. Winchester's front door!